Electric cars.

You got my vote

 

While I was in Thailand I had a good crack with my brother in law and friends regarding EV's
In Thailand the insurance companies have committed to an agreement that the insurance for an EV will not cost you 10% more than an equivalent ICE model.

Now as far I as I am lead to believe, this depends on the valuation of the car. So, I do believe you can get insurance for an EV that is very similar to an ICE model, but that will be for one of the budget Chinese EV's. The more expensive EV's, especially European EV's then the insurance is very expensive with some companies only offering policies for the vehicle with the battery having to be insured through another party.

Virtually every other car and truck in Thailand is a Toyota, but the EV's I generally seen on my trip were, MG 4, BYD Dolphin, Ora Cat and the Neta V. The Neta is probably the cheapest EV on sale in Thailand, probably about the £12,600 mark give or take a few hundred quid to allow for the exchange rates and the MG 4 is probably about 7k cheaper than those for sale in the UK. In Thailand the cheapest MG 4 e is around the £20,500 mark with insurance starting around about the £400 mark, still expensive when the minimum wage a day in Thailand is just under £10.

 

When it comes to the cost of an EV we all talk about the cost of the battery, but as we drive on the left hand side, are we paying a higher premium.

The majority of cars on the road are built for driving on the right hand side and its estimated that is about 68%. So as we drive on the left 32% I wondered was the market share for electric cars the same. It seems the market share of electric cars is greater for the right hand traffic as the projection for left hand traffic will be between 25-27% by 2027

When it came to buying certain Tesla models in 2021, the US was the cheapest country and the UK was the 5th most expensive country. Buyers in the UK were paying £15,000 more for a model s compared to Norwegians. Even a new VW ID.4 GTX in Norway starts at £37,500 compared to over £50,000 in the UK.

Configurator | Build your Volkswagen

ID.4 GTX | Models | Volkswagen

 

I think they are making them and finding themselves stuck with them, I wouldn't buy it.

What does it mean by Auto??

 

Can you get a manual EV?
I thought they didn't actually have gearboxes as such.

 

I agree on the import factor also the government grants come into it. It seems like the UK along with Belgium are making EV'S more affordable but doing it through the second hand market as the grants are mainly for the fleet and business sector.

Dacia launched a new EV 2 years ago with aims to make it the most affordable budget EV in Europe, the UK market was delayed as they did not want any hiccups in the factory to make a righthand drive version. It is being launched in the UK next year and is expected to be in show rooms by the end of 2024 with a starting price of just under £20k.

2024 Dacia Spring: price, specs and release date | heycar

Yet in France the Dacia Spring has a starting price of €16,990 which will be a good £5k cheaper than the UK.
Then when you deduct the French governments eco-bonus of 27% off the vehicle cost and you have a new EV for €12,403 or monthly rental of €89 a month.

Dacia Spring has its price revealed in France - PushEVs

3 year rental, maintenance included, from €79 a month

Spring - 100% electric city car – Dacia